Edward C. Tolman (1886 - 1959) was the American Psychologist who first introduced in 1948 the concept of Cognitive Map. You can read here his original article entitled "Cognitive maps in rats and men".

In 1978 John O'Keefe and Lynn Nadel published a book entitled "The hippocampus as a cognitive map". The book reports their original works regarding the discovery of the so-called "Place cells", selective cells located in the hippocampus that fire when rats are in a specific location in an environment. This book became (and still is) a must read for anyone interested in spatial memory. You can download it here at no cost.

In the last few years, also with the advent of the neuroimaging techniques, we are shedding some light on the neural mechanisms that govern the complex phenomenon of navigation and orientation in humans. Many neuroscientists, including Geoffrey Aguirre, Neil Burgess, Arne Ekstrom, Russell Epstein, Cecilia Guariglia, Mary Hegarty, Jack Loomis, Eleanor Maguire, Morris Moscovitch, Russell Poldrack, Albert Postma and Thomas Wolbers, have significantly contributed to the understanding of the brain mechanisms and cognitive functions underlying the human ability to navigate and orient. (Please email me if you would like to have your lab's webpage included here).

In this website you read about orientation, but there are other developmental cognitive difficulties that individuals may live with. Bradley Duchaine, a researcher at University College London, is one of the pioneer neuroscientists investigating the developmental inability to recognize familiar faces, i.e. prosopagnosia, a defect that has been estimated to affect 2% of the population. Visit this webpage to find out more about developmental prosopagnosia. In patients with brain damage, prosopagnosia is often accompanied by orientation problems. Thus, we will not be surprised to find out that these two cognitive difficulties occur simultaneously in many developmental cases.

Here is a useful webpage to get familiar with brain structures and cognitive functions.

The Center for Spatial Studies is an innovative research center at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Its mission is to facilitate the integration of spatial thinking into processes for learning and discovery in the natural, social, and behavioral sciences, to promote excellence in engineering and applied sciences, and to enhance creativity in the arts and humanities.

Chris Berdik is a journalist who writes about science and research for Boston University. He also freelances for the Boston Globe and National Public Radio. Chris is currently interested in writing a book about research in human navigation and spatial memory. Visit his website if you are interested in contacting him.